Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is getting a lot of flack recently due to his policy concerning coal and fossil fuel, as well his near-abolishment of the country’s efforts to shift to renewable energy.
Now the British conservatives are voicing out their concern for his energy and climate policy as well.
Policy change is far from popular, attracting critics from all over the world
A group of British conservatives, including a former minister during both the Thatcher and Major governments, Lord Deben, have bashed the Australian Prime Minister for “betraying the fundamental tenets of conservatism”.
The Prime Minister’s decisions are leaving the UK officials baffled. Prime Minister Tony Abbott is taking very large risks with his new policies and even stout supporters from the UK agree his choices are eccentric.
Not only was the Prime Minister rated as eccentric and his current decisions baffling, but he was also compared to 16th century flat-Earth believers by Tim Yeo, chairman of a special committee for climate change and energy reform.
Tim Yeo says Australian should be greatly concerned with new policy
Tim Yeo stated that if he were an Australian citizen he would be greatly concerned for the nation’s economic prosperity and future if it were to continue to rely on coal export.
This is even further highlighted by the fact that world’s leading importers of coal, India and China, are now on the move to completely halt coal importing by 2020.
Prime Minister Abbott insists that he shouldn’t be viewed as the bad guy and he is only being a reformative conservative like his political icon, Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In practice, however, it appears that Tony Abbott is driving in the opposite direction than what Mrs. Thatcher desired.
Abbott policy not following Thatcher’s lead 25 years on
Nearly twenty-five years ago Mrs. Thatcher stated that it was mankind’s activities that were changing the world’s environment in seriously damaging ways. It was also Mrs. Thatcher who was responsible for initiating the United Kingdom to take renewable energy seriously.
Australia’s current turn against green energy is the exact opposite of what the UK has achieved and is continuing to pursue. In 2008 alone, the UK launched its new set of policies that would allow the country to reduce emissions by 80% by the year 2050.
It is only 2014 and emissions have already dropped by 25%. 20% of all of Britain’s electricity is produced by renewable sources, with 8% provided by wind power. 8% might look small but in reality that is equivalent to over 6 million households.
UK policy considerably more green than Australian counterpart
The UK aims to rely on renewable green energy while cutting down on carbon emissions and consumable energy sources. All political parties in the UK have agreed to this model, even when they argue over every other policy in the country.
Australia’s decisions will only increase its economical pressure as the world around it continues to change. As more and more countries alter their climate policy to rely less and less on coal and fossil fuel, Australia will inevitably lose its target market.
The changes in Australia’s policy are also going to affect thousands of jobs. With less support towards renewable energy, job production is hampered and many potential jobs are thrown out the window.
